Fight against Ebola: the European Commission allocates €16.5 million in new aid

Brussels — The European Commission has announced a new €16.5 million aid package to strengthen the response to the Ebola outbreak. The initiative follows a visit to Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, by the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Hadja Lahbib. During the trip, Lahbib met with healthcare workers involved in the fight against the virus, as well as humanitarian partners working on patient care, infection prevention and control, community engagement, and logistics management. The mission continued in Ethiopia, where the Commissioner worked with the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). 

The new European funding comprises three main components: €6.5 million will be allocated to strengthening the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, the programme launched in October 2020 by Africa CDC with the aim of integrating genomic sequencing and bioinformatics into the public health systems of all 55 member states of the African Union. These €6.5 million will be used to better equip field teams, train healthcare staff, and improve surveillance systems through advanced diagnostic tools; a further €5 million will go to the World Health Organisation to strengthen epidemiological surveillance and ensure access to essential supplies, such as personal protective equipment; and the remaining €5 million will be provided in the form of rapid diagnostic devices and laboratory test kits, to be rapidly distributed in the hardest-hit areas. 

This new funding is in addition to the €15 million already allocated by the Commission in May for the emergency response to Ebola in the DRC and Uganda. In total, in 2026, the European Union has allocated over €115 million to humanitarian aid in the Great Lakes region and Uganda. 

Without causing undue alarm, vigilance remains “high” in Europe too: according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), “the extremely complex situation in the affected region makes it considerably more difficult to implement effective countermeasures” but the risk of infection for Europeans is very low.